My King Country ride.
I was determined to do todays ride regardless of the weather, despite waking up to rain on the roof. By 9am it had disappeared and I headed off along Pokuru road to Otorohanga. This ride was going to stay off the state highways as much as possible and to stay on roads best suited for 75 – 80kph speeds. The clouds were low and black, so I expected to be kitting up in the wet gear before too long.
Into Oto, and after the main street, I did a left under the rail over bridge, then right into Old Te Kuiti road. No traffic, plenty of corners. After a couple of road name changes I hit SH3 by the Te Kuiti airstrip. A quick top up of fuel and off out of town heading towards Bennydale. I stopped at the site of the Mangapehi sawmill. This is one of only three houses still standing on this site. My uncle worked here before the 2nd world war and won a number of NZ Axemens chopping records.
Turning right onto the Poro-O-Tarao road I pointed Buggsy towards Wamiha. In the early 1970’s when I travelled this road weekly on the XS650, this road was gravel right through to Wamiha. Now it is sealed and apart from the distintive Tomb in the next picture doesn’t resemble the road I used to know.
Back then I was told that the Tomb was the resting place of an early settler from Europe. Today I saw a plaque that looks fairly genuine, above the door which appears to be a dedication to the local Maori. It is dated 1920. The graves surrounding the Tomb all seem to have headstones belonging to Maori culture.
Just before Wamiha I turned left into the Ongarue Stream road. Back in the 70’s, I worked in a logging gang working a large farmers block of pine. We used a Skagit hauler. Across the Ongarue stream was Endeans mill. They were milling native timber from the state forest in the area. Even for those times, the mill worked with obsolete methods. Sonny Kerehopa would load the timber onto the A7 Bedford by hand, before taking it into the Wamiha rail station and then off loading it onto the rail wagons, again by hand. Once a month, Sonny would take the truck into Bennydale and return loaded with booze. We stayed in an old farm house on the farm and spent many evenings in one of the mill houses drinking with the locals. They were a fantastic bunch. All gone now.
The mill is a photographers delight, broken rusted old trucks and half collapsed buildings. Unfortunately, I only got this one photo before a local farmer appeared from nowhere to rant and rave about the mill site being private property and a $10 donation being required before wandering around. He calmed down after I explained my connection with the area.
Back to Wamiha, I was going to get a pic of the old cinema there but two locals were out front having a knuckle dragging contest in the loose gravel , and after ruffling one lot of feathers , I decided to just push on. The road from here is sealed all the way out to SH4. It is bloody rough though. Sunken, uneven, it was probably the worst piece of road on the days ride. I turned left into Ongarue, then right into the Ongarue back road. This runs roughly parallel with the true left bank of the Ongarue river right into Taumarunui. Gravel for 14k, but in far better condition than the sealed road before the village. I stopped to switch off the Gopro and took this photo of the river.
Just a bit further on and I thought the rail bridge might have some photogenic appeal. Not really, but why put a sign up saying ‘ Trains only ‘ then build a walkway across? Yea, I know, to service the tracks I guess.
This road comes into the back of Taumarunui. A quick fuel up and it was off down the Forgotten highway. The day was mostly cloudy with occasional showers so the photos are not the best.
" Rule books are for the Guidance of the Wise, and the Obedience of Fools"
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks